scholarly journals Adaptation and Evolution of Biological Materials

2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (6) ◽  
pp. 1629-1635
Author(s):  
Robert A Campbell ◽  
Mason N Dean
Keyword(s):  
Material Properties ◽  
Phylogenetic Relationships ◽  
Biological Material ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Biological Materials ◽  
Materials Characterization ◽  
Selective Pressures ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Materials Research ◽  
Biological Innovations

Abstract Research into biological materials often centers on the impressive material properties produced in Nature. In the process, however, this research often neglects the ecologies of the materials, the organismal contexts relating to how a biological material is actually used. In biology, materials are vital to organismal interactions with their environment and their physiology, and also provide records of their phylogenetic relationships and the selective pressures that drive biological novelties. With the papers in this symposium, we provide a view on cutting-edge work in biological materials science. The collected research delivers new perspectives on fundamental materials concepts, offering surprising insights into biological innovations and challenging the boundaries of materials’ characterization techniques. The topics, systems, and disciplines covered offer a glimpse into the wide range of contemporary biological materials work. They also demonstrate the need for progressive “whole organism thinking” when characterizing biological materials, and the importance of framing biological materials research in relevant, biological contexts.

Nanoscale Characterization of Materials

MRS Bulletin ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 17-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward T. Yu ◽  
Stephen J. Pennycook
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Experimental Techniques ◽  
Nanometer Scale ◽  
Comprehensive Treatment ◽  
Major Theme ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Materials Research ◽  
Characterization Of Materials

One of the dominant trends in current research in materials science and related fields is the fabrication, characterization, and application of materials and device structures whose characteristic feature sizes are at or near the nanometer scale. Achieving an understanding of—and ultimately control over—the properties and behavior of a wide range of materials at the nanometer scale has therefore become a major theme in materials research. As our ability to synthesize materials and fabricate structures in this size regime improves, effective characterization of materials at the nanometer scale will continue to increase in importance.Central to this activity are the development and application of effective experimental techniques for performing characterization of structural, electronic, magnetic, optical, and other properties of materials with nanometer-scale spatial resolution. Two classes of experimental methods have proven to be particularly effective: scanning-probe techniques and electron microscopy. In this issue of MRS Bulletin, we have included eight articles that illustrate the elucidation of various aspects of nanometer-scale material properties using advanced scanningprobe or electron-microscopy techniques. Because the range of both experimental techniques and applications is extremely broad—and rapidly increasing—our intent is to provide several examples rather than a comprehensive treatment of this extremely active and rapidly growing field of research.

Principles of Materials Characterization and Metrology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kannan M. Krishnan
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Imaging Techniques ◽  
Analytical Electron Microscopy ◽  
Worked Examples ◽  
Optical Diffraction ◽  
Materials Characterization ◽  
Fundamental Properties ◽  
Characterization Techniques ◽  
Wide Range

Characterization enables a microscopic understanding of the fundamental properties of materials (Science) to predict their macroscopic behavior (Engineering). With this focus, the book presents a comprehensive discussion of the principles of materials characterization and metrology. Characterization techniques are introduced through elementary concepts of bonding, electronic structure of molecules and solids, and the arrangement of atoms in crystals. Then, the range of electrons, photons, ions, neutrons and scanning probes, used in characterization, including their generation and related beam-solid interactions that determine or limit their use, are presented. This is followed by ion-scattering methods, optics, optical diffraction, microscopy, and ellipsometry. Generalization of Fraunhofer diffraction to scattering by a three-dimensional arrangement of atoms in crystals, leads to X-ray, electron, and neutron diffraction methods, both from surfaces and the bulk. Discussion of transmission and analytical electron microscopy, including recent developments, is followed by chapters on scanning electron microscopy and scanning probe microscopies. It concludes with elaborate tables to provide a convenient and easily accessible way of summarizing the key points, features, and inter-relatedness of the different spectroscopy, diffraction, and imaging techniques presented throughout. The book uniquely combines a discussion of the physical principles and practical application of these characterization techniques to explain and illustrate the fundamental properties of a wide range of materials in a tool-based approach. Based on forty years of teaching and research, and including worked examples, test your knowledge questions, and exercises, the target readership of the book is wide, for it is expected to appeal to the teaching of undergraduate and graduate students, and to post-docs, in multiple disciplines of science, engineering, biology and art conservation, and to professionals in industry.

In Situ Synchrotron Radiation Research in Materials Science

MRS Bulletin ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro A. Montano ◽  
Hiroyuki Oyanagi
Keyword(s):  
Synchrotron Radiation ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
X Rays ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Curved Trajectories ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Materials Research ◽  
Novel Processing ◽  
Characterization Of Materials

X-rays have found a wide range of applications in chemistry, physics, and materials engineering since their discovery in 1895 by W. Roentgen. The materials science community uses x-ray-based techniques extensively for characterization of materials. In the 1970s a new tunable source of x-rays from the radiation produced by synchrotron accelerators emerged. Synchrotron radiation (SR) is an intense and forward-focused beam of radiation that is emitted when the path of an electron traveling at almost the speed of light is bent by a magnetic field. Figure 1 illustrates the evolution of radiation intensity provided by various x-ray sources. In situ SR techniques provide real-time observation of atomic arrangements with high spatial sensitivity and precision, which are important features not only in fundamental materials research, but also in the development of novel processing techniques and in the search for new exotic materials. A major advantage of SR is that it covers a wide range of wavelengths continuously from infrared to gamma rays. This feature is attractive since a wealth of detailed information on the electronic and structural properties of materials can be obtained by optimizing the wavelength of the radiation.Since the establishment of “first generation” facilities in the early 1970s, the x-ray emittance from synchrotron storage rings, where electrons traveling at almost relativistic speed s are constrained by magnetic fields to follow curved trajectories, has shown dramatic improvements. See Table I for an extensive list of SR facilities presentiy in use throughout the world.

Neutrons and Materials Science

MRS Bulletin ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. 42-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Axe ◽  
John B. Hayter ◽  
Roger Pynn
Keyword(s):  
Material Properties ◽  
Pair Distribution Function ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Distribution Functions ◽  
Materials Characterization ◽  
Stereo Image ◽  
X Rays ◽  
Interatomic Distances ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Pair Distribution Functions

This issue of the MRS BULLETIN is devoted to the technique of neutron scattering and its role in materials characterization. Compared with electrons and x-rays, the other major scattering probes, neutrons seem exotic and expensive. Why then are they so important? This article will address this question generically, with a few specific examples. Subsequent articles will address in greater detail a few of the more prominent techniques that are important for materials scientists.We will begin by reviewing why scattering methods are used to study structure, when for many materials it is possible to employ electron microscopy (where, of course, the images are reconstructed from the interference among the scattered waves). One reason is that direct imaging often tells very little about the relationship between an observed structure and the material properties that derive from it. Figure 1, for example, shows a stereo image of a colloidal latex which is clearly crystalline. The stereo view of the same material in the melt seems random to the eye. If many thousands of such images are taken, however, and the number of pairs of particles separated by a given distance are plotted against the separation (this is the so-called pair distribution function), it is found that certain separations are highly probable, while others are equally improbable. In the systems of Figures 1 and 2, the pair distribution functions are not very different (particularly for separations up to several interatomic distances), and it is this function which governs the thermodynamic properties of the material.

scholarly journals Six-membered-ring inorganic materials: definition and prospects

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gang Liu ◽  
Xing-Qiu Chen ◽  
Bilu Liu ◽  
Wencai Ren ◽  
Hui-Ming Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Materials Science ◽  
Transition Metal Dichalcogenides ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Membered Ring ◽  
Inorganic Materials ◽  
Common Structure ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Materials Research ◽  
Metal Dichalcogenides ◽  
New Perspective

Abstract The six-membered ring (SMR) is a common structure unit for numerous material systems. These materials include, but are not limited to, the typical two-dimensional materials such as graphene, h-BN, and transition metal dichalcogenides, as well as three-dimensional materials such as beryllium, magnesium, MgB2, and Bi2Se3. Although many of these materials have already become ‘stars’ in materials science and condensed-matter physics, little attention has been paid to the roles of their SMR unit across a wide range of compositions and structures. In this article, we systematically analyze these materials with respect to their very basic SMR structural unit, which has been found to play a deterministic role in the occurrence of many intriguing properties and phenomena, such as Dirac electronic and phononic spectra, superconductivity and topology. As a result, we have defined this group of materials as SMR inorganic materials, which opens a new perspective on materials research and development. With their unique properties, SMR materials deserve wide attention and in-depth investigation from materials design, new physical discoveries to target-wizard applications. It is expected that SMR materials will find niche applications in next-generation information technology, renewable energy, space, etc.

scholarly journals Material properties of brachiopod shell ultrastructure by nanoindentation

2006 ◽  
Vol 4 (12) ◽  
pp. 33-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Pérez-Huerta ◽  
Maggie Cusack ◽  
Wenzhong Zhu ◽  
Jennifer England ◽  
John Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Material Properties ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Young Modulus ◽  
Chemical Components ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Mode Of Life ◽  
Modes Of Life

Mineral-producing organisms exert exquisite control on all aspects of biomineral production. Among shell-bearing organisms, a wide range of mineral fabrics are developed reflecting diverse modes of life that require different material properties. Our knowledge of how biomineral structures relate to material properties is still limited because it requires the determination of these properties on a detailed scale. Nanoindentation, mostly applied in engineering and materials science, is used here to assess, at the microstructural level, material properties of two calcite brachiopods living in the same environment but with different modes of life and shell ultrastructure. Values of hardness ( H ) and the Young modulus of elasticity ( E ) are determined by nanoindentation. In brachiopod shells, calcite semi-nacre provides a harder and stiffer structure ( H ∼3–6 GPa; E =60–110/120 GPa) than calcite fibres ( H =0–3 GPa; E =20–60/80 GPa). Thus, brachiopods with calcite semi-nacre can cement to a substrate and remain immobile during their adult life cycle. This correlation between mode of life and material properties, as a consequence of ultrastructure, begins to explain why organisms produce a wide range of structures using the same chemical components, such as calcium carbonate.

Instrumental Limitations and Current Prospects for Materials Research with the Latest Generation of High-Resolution Electron Microscopes

1984 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Smith
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Short Review ◽  
Resolution Electron ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Materials Research ◽  
Recent Trends ◽  
Electron Microscopes ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Science Investigations

The macroscopic properties of most materials depend directly on their microstructure and its local variability at the atomic level. Recent trends in high resolution electron microscopes (HREMs) have led to resolving powers on this scale, which in turn has made these instruments invaluable to many materials science investigations. The purposes of this short review are firstly to outline some of the fundamentals of high resolution image formation and interpretation and then to summarise some of the latest instrumental developments. Some recent applications are briefly described to provide some appreciation of the wide range of materials currently being investigated with the HREM. The impact of this work should be apparent from reference to other papers in this volume as well as several recent reviews [1–3] and special conference proceedings [4–5]. The likelihood of further developments in instrumentation and the necessity for complementary information from other techniques are also briefly considered.

scholarly journals Assessment of crystallographic influence on material properties of calcite brachiopods

2008 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 563-568 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Pérez-Huerta ◽  
M. Cusack ◽  
W. Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Material Properties ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
High Spatial Resolution ◽  
Electron Backscatter Diffraction ◽  
Longitudinal Section ◽  
Nano Indentation ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Unique Material ◽  
Backscatter Diffraction ◽  
Insufficient Knowledge

AbstractCalcium carbonate biominerals are frequently analysed in materials science due to their abundance, diversity and unique material properties. Aragonite nacre is intensively studied, but less information is available about the material properties of biogenic calcite, despite its occurrence in a wide range of structures in different organisms. In particular, there is insufficient knowledge about how preferential crystallographic orientations influence these material properties. Here, we study the influence of crystallography on material properties in calcite semi-nacre and fibres of brachiopod shells using nanoindentation and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The nano-indentation results show that calcite semi-nacre is a harder and stiffer (H ≈ 3—5 GPa; E = 50–85 GPa) biomineral structure than calcite fibres (H = 0.4—3 GPa; E = 30—60 GPa). The integration of EBSD to these studies has revealed a relationship between the crystallography and material properties at high spatial resolution for calcite semi-nacre. The presence of crystals with the c-axis perpendicular to the plane-of-view in longitudinal section increases hardness and stiffness. The present study determines how nano-indentation and EBSD can be combined to provide a detailed understanding of biomineral structures and their analysis for application in materials science.

Biological Materials Science

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Andre Meyers ◽  
Po-Yun Chen
Keyword(s):  
Materials Science ◽  
Biological Materials
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